LEGENDS
OF THE
PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS.
LEGENDS
OF THE
PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS
AND OTHER
OLD TESTAMENT CHARACTERS
FROM VARIOUS SOURCES
BY THE
REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.
_Author of “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,” “The Origin and
Development of Religious Belief,” “In Exitu Israel,” etc._
[Publisher's Logo]
NEW YORK:
AMERICAN BOOK EXCHANGE,
764 BROADWAY.
1881.
PREFACE.
An incredible number of legends exists connected with the personages
whose history is given in the Old Testament. The collection now
presented to the public must by no means be considered as exhaustive.
The compiler has been obliged to limit himself as to the number, it
being quite impossible to insert all. He trusts that few of peculiar
interest have been omitted.
The Mussulman traditions are nearly all derived from the Talmudic
writers, just as the history of Christ in the Koran is taken from the
Apocryphal Gospels. The Koran follows the “Sepher Hajaschar” (Book
of the Just) far more closely than the canonical Scriptures; and the
“Sepher Hajaschar” is a storehouse of the Rabbinic tradition on the
subject of the Patriarchs from Adam to Joshua.
The Jewish traditions are of various value. Some can be traced to
their origin without fail. One class is derived from Persia, as, for
instance, those of Asmodeus, the name of the demon being taken, along
with his story, from Iranian sources. Another class springs from the
Cabbalists, who, by permutation of the letters of a name, formed the
nuclei, so to speak, from which legends spread.
Another class, again, is due to the Rabbinic commentators, who, unable
to allow for poetical periphrasis, insisted on literal interpretations,
and then coined fables to explain them. Thus the saying of David,
“_Thou hast heard me from among the horns of the unicorns_,” which
signified that David was assisted by God in trouble, was taken quite
literally by the Rabbis, and a story was invented to explain it.
Another class, again, is no doubt due to the exaggeration of Oriental
imagery, just as that previously mentioned is due to the deficiency of
the poetic fancy in certain Rabbis. Thus, imagination and defect of
imagination, each contributed to add to the store.
But when we have swept all these classes aside, there remains a
residuum, small, no doubt, of genuine tradition. To this class, if I am
not mistaken, belong the account of Lamech and his wives, and the story
of the sacrifice of Isaac. In the latter instance, the type comes out
far clearer in the Talmudic tradition that in the canonical Scriptures;
and this can hardly have been the result of Jewish interpolation,
knowing, as they did, that Christians pointed triumphantly to this type.
* * * * *
With regard to Jewish traditions, it is unfortunate that both
Eisenmenger and Bartolocci, who collected many of them, were so
prejudiced, so moved with violent animosity against the Rabbinic
writers, that they preserved only the grotesque, absurd, and
indecent legends, and wholly passed over those--and there are many of
them--which are redolent of poetry, and which contain an element of
truth.
* * * * *
A certain curious interest attaches to these legends--at least, I think
so; and, should they find favor with the public, this volume will
be followed by another series on the legends connected with the New
Testament characters.
The author is not aware of any existing collection of these legends,
except that of M. Colin de Plancy, “Legendes de l’Ancien Testament,”
Paris, 1861; but he has found this work of little or no use to him
in composing his volume, as M. de Plancy gives no reference to
authorities; and also, because nearly the whole of the contents
are taken from D’Herbelot’s “Bibliothèque Orientale” and Migne’s
“Dictionnaire des Apocryphes.”
It will be necessary to add a few words on certain works largely quoted
in the following pages.
1. Dr. G. Weil’s “Biblische Legende der Muselmänner,” Frankfurt a. M.,
1845, is derived from three Arabic MS. works--“_Chamis_,” by Husein
Ibn Mohammed Ibn Alhasan Addiarbekri; “_Dsachirat Alulun wanatidjat
Alfuhum_,” by Ahmed Ibn zein Alabidin Albekri; and “_Kissat Alanbija_,”
by Mohammed Ibn Ahmed Alkissai.
2. The Chronicle of Abou-djafar Mohammed Tabari was translated into
Persian by Abou Ali Mohammed Belami, who added sundry traditions
circulating in Persia; and has been rendered into French, in part, by
M. Hermann Zolenberg, for the Oriental Translation Fund, Paris, 1867.
3. The “Sepher Hajaschar,” or Book of Jasher (Yaschar), is quoted from
the translation by Le Chevalier P. L. B. Drach, inserted in Migne’s
“Dictionnaire des Apocryphes.”
4. Eisenmenger, “Neuentdektes Judenthum,” 2 vols. 8vo, Königsburg,
1711, contains a great many Rabbinic traditions collected from sources
inaccessible to most persons.
5. Bartolocci, “Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica,” 4 vols. fol., Rome,
1675-93, is a very valuable storehouse of information, but sadly
disfigured by prejudice.
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PREFACE v
I.
THE FALL OF THE ANGELS 15
II.
ADAM 21
1. The Creation of Man 21
2. The Pre-Adamites 27
III.
EVE 29
IV.
THE FALL OF MAN 36
V.
ADAM AND EVE AFTER THE FALL 48
VI.
CAIN AND ABEL 69
VII.
THE DEATH OF ADAM 77
VIII.
SETH 81
IX.
CAINAN SON OF ENOS 84
X.
ENOCH 85
1. The Translation of Enoch 85
2. The Book of Enoch 87
XI.
THE GIANTS 91
XII.
LAMECH 96
XIII.
METHUSELAH 98
XIV.
NOAH 99
XV.
HEATHEN LEGENDS OF THE DELUGE 106
XVI.
THE PLANTING OF THE VINE 121
XVII.
THE SONS OF NOAH 124
XVIII.
RELICS OF THE ARK 126
XIX.
CERTAIN DESCENDANTS OF HAM 127
XX.
SERUG 130
XXI.
THE PROPHET EBER 131
XXII.
THE PROPHET SALEH 136
XXIII.
THE TOWER OF BABEL 144
XXIV.
ABRAHAM 149
1. His Youth and early Struggles 149
2. The Call of Abraham, and the Visit to Egypt 162
3. The War with the Kings 166
4. The Birth of Ishmael 171
5. The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah 172
6. The Birth of Isaac 177
7. The Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael 181
8. The Strife between the Shepherds 185
9. The Grove in Beer-sheba 186
10. The Offering of Isaac 187
11. The Death of Sarah 197
12. The Marriage of Isaac 201
13. The Death of Abraham 203
XXV.
MELCHIZEDEK 205
XXVI.
OF ISHMAEL AND THE WELL ZEMZEM 210
XXVII.
ESAU AND JACOB 215
XXVIII.
JOSEPH 227
XXIX.
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS 243
XXX.
JOB 245
XXXI.
JETHRO 251
XXXII.
MOSES 252
1. Israel in Egypt 252
2. The Birth and Childhood of Moses 259
3. The Youth and Marriage of Moses 266
4. Moses before Pharaoh 275
5. The Passage of the Red Sea 283
6. The giving of the Law 288
7. The Manna 292
8. The Smitten Rock 294
9. Moses visits El Khoudr 295
10. The Mission of the Spies 298
11. Of Korah and his Company 301
12. The Wars of the Israelites 304
13. The Death of Aaron 307
14. The Death of Moses 310
XXXIII.
JOSHUA 315
XXXIV.
THE JUDGES 319
XXXV.
SAMUEL 319
XXXVI.
SAUL 325
1. War with the Philistines.--Goliath slain 325
2. Saul’s Jealousy of David 329
3. The Death of Saul 331
XXXVII.
DAVID 323
XXXVIII.
SOLOMON 347
1. How Solomon obtained Power 347
2. How Solomon feasted all Flesh 349
3. The Building of the Temple 351
4. The Travels of Solomon 353
5. The History of the Queen of Sheba 358
6. Solomon’s Adventure with the Apes 364
7. Solomon marries the Daughter of Pharaoh 365
8. How Solomon lost and recovered his Ring 366
9. The Death of Solomon 369
XXXIX.
ELIJAH 371
XL.
ISAIAH 373
XLI.
JEREMIAH 376
XLII.
EZEKIEL 377
XLIII.
EZRA 377
XLIV.
ZACHARIAH 380
LEGENDS OF THE PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS.
I.
THE FALL OF THE ANGELS.
In the beginning, before the creation of heaven and earth, God made
the angels; free intelligences and free wills; out of His love He made
them, that they might be eternally happy. And that their happiness
might be complete, He gave them the perfection of a created nature;
that is, He gave them freedom.
But happiness is only attained by the free will agreeing in its freedom
to accord with the will of God. Some of the angels by an act of free
will obeyed the will of God, and in such obedience found perfect
happiness; other angels by an act of free will rebelled against the
will of God, and in such disobedience found misery.
Such is the catholic theory of the fall of the angels.
Historically, it is represented as a war in heaven. “_And there was
war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and
the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their
place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast
out with him._”[1] The reason of the revolt was that Satan desired to
be as great as God. “_Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit
also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north; I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most
High._”[2]
The war ended in the fall of Satan and those whom he had led into
apostasy; and to this fall are referred the words of Christ, “_I saw
Satan like lightning fall from heaven._”[3]
Fabricius, in his collections of the apocryphal writings of the Old
Testament, has preserved the song of triumph which the Archangel
Michael sang on obtaining the victory. This is a portion of it:--
“Glory to our God! Praise to His holy Name! He is our God; glory be
to Him! He is our Lord! His be the triumph! He has stretched forth
His right hand; He has manifested His power, He has cast down our
adversaries. They are mad who resist Him; they are accursed who depart
from His commandments! He knoweth all things, and cannot err. His will
is sovereignly just, and all that He wills is good, all that He advises
is holy. Supreme Intelligence cannot be deceived; Perfect Being cannot
will what is evil. Nothing is above that which is supreme, nothing is
better than that which is perfect. None is worthy beside Him but him
whom He has made worthy. He must be loved above all things and adored
as the eternal King. You have abandoned your God, you have revolted
against Him, you have desired to be gods; you have fallen from your
high estates, you have gone down like a fallen stone. Acknowledge that
God is great, that His works are perfect, and that His judgments are
just. Glory be to God through ages of ages, praises of joy for all His
works!” This song of the Archangel is said to have been revealed to S.
Amadeus.[4]
According to the Talmudists, Satan, whose proper name is Sammael, was
one of the Seraphim, with six wings.[5] He was not driven out of heaven
till after he had led Adam and Eve into sin; then Sammael and his host
were precipitated out of the place of bliss, with God’s curse to weigh
them down. In the struggle between Michael and Sammael, the falling
Seraph caught the wings of Michael and tried to drag him down with him,
but God saved him, whence Michael derives his name (the Rescued). This
is what the Rabbi Bechai says in his commentary on the Five Books of
Moses.[6]
According to a Talmudic authority, the apostate angels having fallen in
a heap, God laid his little finger on them and consumed them.[7]
Sammael was the regent of the planet Mars, and this he rules still, and
therefore it is that those born under the influence of that star are
lovers of war and given to strife.[8]
He was chief among the angels of God, and now he is prince among
devils.[9] His name is derived from Simmé, which means to blind and
deceive. He stands on the _left_ side of men. He goes by various names;
such as the Old Serpent, the Unclean Spirit, Satan, Leviathan, and
sometimes also Asael. In his fall he spat in his hatred against God,
and his spittle stained the moon, and thus it is that the moon has on
it spots.
After his fall, Satan took to himself four wives, Lilith and Naama the
daughter of Lamech and sister of Tubal-cain, Igereth and Machalath.
Each became the mother of a great host of devils, and each rules with
her host over a season of the year; and at the change of seasons there
is a great gathering of devils about their mothers. Lilith is followed
by four hundred and seventy-eight legions of devils, for that number
is comprised in her name (לילית--478). According to some, Lilith is
identical with Eve. She rules over Damascus, Naama over Tyre, Igereth
over Malta and Rhodes, and Machalath over Crete.[10]
Many traditions date the existence of angels and demons from a remote
period before the creation of the world, but some connect the fall of
Satan and his host with the creation of man.
Abou-Djafar-Mohammed Tabari says that when God made Adam, He bade all
the angels worship him as their king and superior, as says the Koran,
“All the angels adored Adam” (xv. 30), but that Satan or Eblis answered
God, “I will not adore Adam, for he is made of earth and I of fire,
therefore I am better than he” (vii. II), and that God thereupon cursed
Eblis and gave him the form of a devil, because of his pride, vain
confidence, and disobedience.[11]
Abulfeda says, “After God had made man He thus addressed the angels.
‘When I have breathed a portion of my spirit into him, bow before him
and adore.’ After He had inspired Adam with His spirit, all the angels
of every degree adored him, except Eblis; he, through pride and envy,
scorned to do this, and disobeyed God. Then God cursed him, and he cut
him off from all hope in divine mercy, and He called him Scheithanan
redjiman (Satan devoted to misery), and He cast him out who had been
before an angel of the earth, and keeper of terrestrial things, and a
guardian of Paradise.”[12]
But the general opinion seems to have been that the fall of the angels
preceded the creation of man. Ibn-Ezra dates it on the second day of
creation, others on the first day when God “_divided the light from the
darkness_.” Manasseh Ben Israel says that God has placed the devils
in the clouds, that they might torment the wicked with thunder and
lightnings, and showers of hail and tempests of wind, and that this
took place on the second day, when the firmaments were divided.
As the fall of Satan took place through his aspiration to be God, so it
is closely connected with the origin of idolatry and false worship; for
now that Satan is cast out of heaven, he still seeks to exalt himself
into the place of God, and therefore leads men from the worship of the
true God into demonolatry. Thus the gods of the heathens were regarded
by the first Christians as devils aspiring to receive that worship
from men on earth which they sought and failed to obtain in heaven.
Thus St. Paul tells the Corinthians that “_the Gentiles sacrifice to
devils_.”[13] The temptation of Christ can only be fully understood
when we bear in mind that pride and craving for worship is the prime
source of Satan’s actions. “_All these will I give thee_,” he said to
Christ, “_if Thou wilt fall down and worship me._” It was a second
attempt of Satan to set himself above the Most High.
Among the heathen, traditions of the Angelic apostasy and war have
remained.
The Indian story is as follows:--
At the head of the apostate spirits is Mahisasura, or the great Asur;
he and those who followed him were once good, but before the creation
of the world they refused obedience to Brahma, wherefore they were
cast down by the assistance of Schiva into the abyss of Onderah.[14]
Mahisasura is also represented as the great serpent Vrita, against
which Indra fought, and which after a desperate struggle he overcame.
The Persian tradition is that Ahriman, the chief of the rebels, is not
by nature evil. He was not created evil by the Eternal One, but he
became evil by revolting against his will; and the ancient books of the
Parsees assert that at the last day Ahriman will return to obedience,
and having been purified by fire, will regain the place among the
heavenly beings which he lost. In this war the Izeds fought against the
Divs, headed by Ahriman, and flung the conquered into Douzahk or hell.
The Norse story is that Loki, the spirit of evil, is one of the gods,
and sat with them at their table till he declared himself their enemy,
when he with his vile progeny, the wolf and the serpent, were cast out.
The wolf is bound, Thorr constrains the serpent, and Loki is chained
under the mountains, and a serpent distils poison on his breast; when
he tosses in agony, the earth quakes.
In Egypt, Typhon was brother of Osiris, but he revolted against him.
Maximus of Tyre, and Apollonius of Rhodes, following Orpheus, speak
of the war of the gods against the angels who rebelled under their
chief Ophion, or the Serpent, and Pherecydes, according to Origen,
sang of this event as having taken place in pre-historic times; so
that the knowledge of it could only have reached man by revelation. He
described the two armies face to face,--one commanded by Saturn, the
supreme Creator; the other by Ophioneus, the old Dragon, and the defeat
of the latter and its expulsion from the realms of bliss to Ogenos,
the regions of annihilation.[15] The story of the Titans is connected
with this. They were the sons of Uranus (heaven) and Ge (earth), and
dwelt originally in heaven, whence they are called Uranidæ. They were
twelve in number. Uranus threw out of heaven his other sons, the
Hecatoncheires and the Cyclopes, and precipitated them into Tartarus.
Whereupon Ge persuaded her sons, the Titans, to rise up against their
father, and liberate their brethren. They did as their mother bade
them, deposed Uranus, and placed on his throne their brother Cronus,
who immediately re-imprisoned the Cyclopes. But Zeus with his brothers
fought against the reigning Titans, cast them out of heaven, and
enthroned himself on the seat of Cronus; and the Titans he enchained
in the abyss under Tartarus.
This is simply the same story told over twice, and formed into a
dynasty. Chronos Titan is the same as the Arabic Scheitan, the Erse
Teitin, the Time-god, and the Biblical Satan, or Lucifer, the Son of
the Morning.
Amongst the Battas of Sumatra exists a myth to this effect: Batara
Guru, the supreme God, from whose daughter Putiarla Buran all mankind
are descended, cast the mountain Bakkara out of heaven upon the head of
the serpent, his foe, and made the home of his son Layanga-layaad-mandi
on the top of this mountain. From this summit the son descended that he
might bind the hands or feet of the serpent, as it shook its head and
made the earth rock.
Connected with the fall of Satan is his lameness. The devil is
represented in art and in legion as limping on one foot; this was
occasioned by his having broken his leg in his fall.
Hephæstus, who pursued Athene and attempted to outrage divine Wisdom,
was precipitated from heaven into the fire-island Lemnos, and was
lamed thereby. Hermes cut the hamstring out of Typhon, therewith to
string his lyre. The Norse god Loki lusted after Freya, and was lamed
therefor. Wieland the smith (Völundr), who ventured to do violence to
Beodohild, was lamed, and was known thereby. Phaethon, daring to drive
his father’s chariot of the sun, was cast out and thrown to earth.
The natives of the Caroline Islands relate that one of the inferior
gods, named Merogrog, was driven by the other gods out of heaven,
and he took with him a spark of fire which he gave to men.[16] This
myth resembles that of Prometheus, “the contriver, full of gall and
bitterness, who sinned against the gods by bestowing their honors
on creatures of a day, the thief of fire,” as Hermes calls him. He
reappears as Tohil among the Quiches, the giver of fire, hated, yet
adored.
The Northern Californians say that the supreme God once created
invisible spirits, of whom one portion revolted against him, headed
by a spirit named War or Touparan, and that the Great Spirit having
overcome him, drove him from the plains of heaven, and confined him
along with his comrades in a cavern, where he is guarded by whales.[17]
The Egyptian Typhon, already alluded to, did not belong to Egypt alone,
but also to Phœnicia and Asia Minor, and thence the story passed into
Greece, where it took root, and has been preserved to us as the attack
of the hundred-headed dragon against the heaven-god Zeus. Typhon
desired to obtain supremacy over gods and men, and, in order to win
for himself this sovereignty, he fought against the gods; but he was
defeated, bound, and precipitated into Tartarus, or, according to
another version, was buried under the flaming mountains.
According to a tradition of the Salivas, a people of New Granada, a
serpent slew the nations, descended from God, who inhabited the region
of the Orinoco, but a son of the God Puru fought him and overcame
him, and bade him depart with his curse, and never to enter his house
again, and, say these Salivas, from the flesh of the serpent sprang the
Caribees, their great foes, as maggots from putrid meat.[18]
But these stories might be infinitely extended. How far they refer to
a tradition common to the human race, and how far they relate to the
strife between summer and winter, sun and storm-cloud, I do not pretend
to decide. It is one of those vexed questions which it is impossible to
determine.
II.
ADAM.
1. THE CREATION OF MAN.
Certain of the angels having fallen, God made men, that they might take
their vacated places.
According to the most authoritative Mussulman traditions, Adam was
created on Friday afternoon at the Assr-hour, or about three o’clock.
The four archangels--Gabriel, Michael, Israfiel, and Asrael--were
required to bring earth from the four quarters of the world, that
therefrom God might fashion man. His head and breast were made of
clay from Mecca and Medina, from the spot where later were the Holy
Kaaba and the tomb of Mohammed. Although still lifeless, his beauty
amazed the angels who had flocked to the gates of Paradise. But
Eblis, envious of the beauty of Adam’s as yet inanimate form, said to
the angels: “How can you admire a creature made of earth? From such
material nothing but fragility and feebleness can come.” However, most
of the angels praised God for what he had done.
The body of Adam was so great, that if he stood up his head would reach
into the seventh heaven. But he was not as yet endowed with a living
soul. The soul had been made a thousand years before, and had been
steeped all that while in the sea of light which flowed from Allah. God
now ordered the soul to enter the body. It showed some indisposition to
obey; thereupon God exclaimed: “Quicken Adam against your will, and,
as a penalty for your disobedience, you shall leave the body sorely
against your will.” Then God blew the spirit against Adam with such
force that it entered his nose, and ran up into his head, and as soon
as it reached his eyes Adam opened them, and saw the throne of God
with the inscription upon it: “There is no God but God, and Mohammed
is His prophet.” Then the soul ran into his ears, and Adam heard the
song of the angels; thereupon his tongue was unloosed, for by this time
the soul had reached it, and he said, “Praise be to Thee, my Creator,
one and only!” And God answered him: “For this purpose are you made.
You and your successors must pray to me, and you will find mercy and
loving-kindness at my hands.” Then the soul penetrated all the members,
reaching last of all the feet of Adam, which receiving strength, he
sprang up, and stood upon the earth. But when he stood upright he
was obliged to close his eyes, for the light of God’s throne shining
directly into them blinded them. “What light is this?” he asked, as
he covered his eyes with one hand, and indicated the throne with the
other. “It is the light of a prophet,” God answered, “who will spring
from thee in later ages. By mine honor I swear, for him alone have I
created the world. In heaven he bears the name of the much lauded, and
on earth he will be called Mohammed. Through him all men will be led
out of error into the way of truth.”
God then called all created animals before Adam, and told him their
names and their natures. Then He called up all the angels, and bade
them bow before Adam, the man whom He had made. Israfiel obeyed first,
and God gave to him in recompense the custody of the Book of Fate; the
other angels obeyed in order; only Eblis refused, in the pride of his
heart, saying, “Why shall I, who am made of fire, bend before him who
is made of earth?” Therefore he was cast out of the angel choirs, and
was forbidden admission through the gates of Paradise. Adam also was
led out of Paradise, and he preached to the angels, who stood before
him in ten thousand ranks, a sermon on the power, majesty, and goodness
of God, and he showed such learning and knowledge--for he could name
each beast in seventy languages--that the angels were amazed at his
knowledge, which excelled their own. As a reward for having preached
this sermon, God sent Adam a bunch of grapes out of Paradise by the
hands of Gabriel.[19]
In the Midrash, the Rabbinical story is as follows: “When God wished to
make man, He consulted with the angels, and said to them, We will make
a man in our image. Then they said, What is man, that you regard him,
and what is his nature? He answered, His knowledge excels yours. Then
He placed all kinds of beasts before them, wild beasts and fowls of the
air, and asked them their names, but they knew them not. And after Adam
was made, He led them before him, and He asked Adam their names, and he
replied at once, This is an ox, that is an ass, this is a horse, that
is a camel, and so forth.”[20]
The story told by Tabari is somewhat different.
When God would make Adam, He ordered Gabriel to bring Him a handful of
every sort of clay, black, white, red, yellow, blue, and every other
kind.[21] Gabriel went to the middle of the earth to the place where
now is Kaaba. He wished to stoop and take the clay, but the earth
said to him, “O Gabriel, what doest thou?” And Gabriel answered, “I
am fetching a little clay, dust, and stone, that thereof God may make
a Lord for thee.” Then the earth swore by God, “Thou shalt take of me
neither clay nor dust nor stone; what if of the creatures made from me
some should arise who would do evil upon the earth, and shed innocent
blood?” Gabriel withdrew, respecting the oath, and took no earth; and
he said to God, “Thou knowest what the earth said to me.”
Then God sent Michael and bade him fetch a little mud. But when Michael
arrived, the earth swore the same oath.
And Michael respected the oath and withdrew.
Then God sent Azrael, the angel of death. He came, and the earth swore
the same oath; but he did not retire, but answered and said, “I must
obey the command of God in spite of thine oath.”
And the angel of death stooped, and took from forty ells below the
earth clay of every sort, as we have said, and therefrom God made Adam.
No one in the world had seen a form like that of Adam. Hâreth or Satan
went to look at him. Adam had lain stretched in the same place for the
space of about forty years. No one thought of him or knew what sort of
a thing he was. Hâreth coming up to him, saw him stretched from east to
west, of huge size and as dry as dry palm leaves. Then Hâreth pushed
Adam, and the dry earth rattled. Hâreth was astonished. He examined the
form more attentively, and he found that it was hollow. Then he went to
the mouth and crept in at it, and crept out again and let the angels
know the doubt that was in his breast, for he said, “This creature is
nothing, its inside is empty, and a hollow thing can easily be broken.
Now that God has made him, He has given him the empire of the world,
but I will fight against him and drive him from the earth as I drove
out the Jins. What is your advice?”
The angels answered, “O Hâreth, if we overcame the Jins it was in
obedience to God’s command. Now that God has created this thing, if He
orders us to submit to it, we must do so.” Now when Hâreth saw that the
angels thought otherwise, he changed his discourse and said, “You speak
the truth, I agree with you, but I wanted to prove you.”
When God gave the soul to Adam, it entered his throat and passed down
into his bosom and belly, and wherever it passed, the earth, the clay,
the dust, and the black mud became bones, nerves, veins, flesh, skin,
and the like. And when his soul entered his head, Adam sneezed, and
said, “Praise be to God.” And when he turned his head, he saw Paradise
and all its delights; and when the soul entered his belly, he wanted to
eat, so he tried to rise and get some food, but the soul had not yet
reached his extremities, which were as yet mere clay, so Gabriel said:
“O Adam, don’t be in a hurry.”[22] Then follows the story of Eblis
refusing to adore Adam. According to another version of the Mussulman
story, the soul showed such repugnance to enter the body, that the
angel Gabriel took a flageolet, and sitting down near the head of the
inanimate Adam, played such exquisite melodies that the soul descended
to listen, and in a moment of ecstasy entered the feet, which began
immediately to move. Thereupon the soul was given command by Allah not
to leave the body again till special permission was given it by the
Most High.[23]
In the Talmud we are told that the Rabbi Meir says that the dust from
which Adam was made was gathered from all parts of the earth: the Rabbi
Hoshea says that the body of the first man was made of dust from Babel;
the head, of earth from the land of Israel, and the rest of his limbs
from the soil of other countries: but the Rabbi Acha adds that his
hinder quarters were fashioned out of clay from Acre.[24] When Adam was
made, some of the dust remained over; of that God made locusts.[25]
A Rabbinical tale is to this effect. God was interrupted by the Sabbath
in the midst of creating fauns and satyrs, after He had made man, and
was obliged to postpone their completion till the Sunday, consequently
these creatures are misshapen. A Talmudic account of the way in which
were spent the hours of the day in which Adam was made, is sufficiently
curious.
At the first hour, God gathered the dust of the earth; in the second,
He formed the embryo; in the third, the limbs were extended; in the
fourth, the soul was given; at the fifth hour Adam stood upright; at
the sixth, Adam named the animals. Having done this, God asked him,
“And I, what is my name?”
Adam replied--“Jehovah.”
At the seventh hour, Adam married Eve; at the eighth, Cain and his
sister were born; at the ninth, they were forbidden to eat of the tree;
at the tenth hour Adam fell; at the eleventh he was banished from Eden;
and at the twelfth, he felt the sweat and pain of toil.[26]
In the Apocryphal Little Genesis, we are told that Adam did not disobey
God till the expiration of the seventh year, and that he was not
punished till forty-five days after. It adds, that before the Fall,
Adam conversed familiarly with the animals, but that by the Fall they
lost the faculty of speech.
God, say the Rabbis, made Adam so tall that his head touched the sky;
and the tree of life, planted in the midst of the garden of Eden, was
so broad at the base that it would take a good walker five years to
march round it, and Adam’s proportions accorded with those of the tree.
The angels murmured, and told God that there were two sovereigns, one
in heaven and one on earth. Thereupon God placed his hand on the head
of Adam and reduced him to a thousand cubits.[27]
To the question, How big was Adam? the Talmud replies, He was made
so tall that he stood with his head in heaven, till God pressed him
down at the Fall. Rabbi Jehuda says, that as he lay stretched on the
earth he covered it completely;[28] but the book Sepher Gilgulim says
(fol. 20, col. 4), that when he was made, his head and throat were in
Paradise, and his body in the earth. To judge how long he was, says
the same book, understand that his body stretched from one end of the
earth to the other, and it takes a man five hundred years to walk that
distance.[29] And when Adam was created, all the beasts of earth fell
down before him and desired to worship him, but he said to them, “You
have come to worship me, but come and let us clothe ourselves with
power and glory, and let us take Him to be king over us who has created
us; for a people chooses a king, but the king does not appoint himself
monarch arbitrarily.” Therefore Adam chose God to be king of all the
world, and the beasts, fowls, and fishes gladly consented thereto.[30]
But the sun, seeing Adam, was filled with fear and became dark; and the
angels quaked and were dismayed, and prayed to God to remove from them
this mighty being whom He had made. Then God cast a deep sleep on Adam,
and the sun and the angels looked on him lying helpless in his slumber,
and they plucked up courage and feared him no more. The book Sepher
Chasidim, however, says, that the angels seeing Adam so great and with
his face shining above the brightness of the sun, bowed before him, and
said, “Holy, holy, holy!” Whereupon God cast a sleep upon him and cut
off great pieces of his flesh to reduce him to smaller proportions.
And when Adam woke he saw bits of flesh strewed all round him, like
shavings in a carpenter’s shop, and he exclaimed, “O God! how hast Thou
robbed me?” but God answered, “Take these gobbets of flesh and carry
them into all lands and drop them everywhere, and strew dust on them;
and wherever they are laid, that land will I give to thy posterity to
inherit.”[31]
Many are the origins attributed to man in the various creeds of ancient
and modern heathendom. Sometimes he is spoken of as having been made
out of water, but more generally it is of earth that he has been made,
or from which he has been spontaneously born. The Peruvians believed
that the world was peopled by four men and four women, brothers and
sisters, who emerged from the caves near Cuzco. Among the North
American Indians the earth is regarded as the universal mother. Men
came into existence in her womb, and crept out of it by climbing up
the roots of the trees which hung from the vault in which they were
conceived and matured; or, mounting a deer, the animal brought them
into daylight; or, groping in darkness, they tore their way out with
their nails.[32]
The Egyptian philosophers pretended that man was made of the mud
of the Nile.[33] In Aristophanes,[34] man is spoken of as πλάσματα
πηλοῦ. Among some of the Chinese it is believed that man was thus
formed:--“The book Fong-zen-tong says: When the earth and heaven were
made, there was not as yet man or peoples. Then Niu-hoa moulded yellow
earth, and of that made man. That is the true origin of men.”[35]
And the ancient Chaldeans supposed man was made by the mixing of the
blood of Belus with the soil.[36]
2. THE PRE-ADAMITES.
In 1655, Isaac de la Peyreira, a converted Jew, published a curious
treatise on the Pre-Adamites. Arguing upon Romans v. 12-14, he
contended that there were two creations of man; that recorded in the
first chapter of Genesis and that described in the second chapter
being distinct. The first race he supposed to have peopled the whole
world, but that it was bad, and therefore Adam had been created with
a spiritual soul, and that from Adam the Jewish race was descended,
whereas the Gentile nations issued from the loins of the Pre-Adamites.
Consequently the original sin of Adam weighed only on his descendants,
and Peyreira supposed that it was his race alone which perished, with
the exception of Noah and his family, in the Deluge, which Peyreira
contends was partial. This book was condemned and burnt in Paris by
the hands of the executioner, and the author, who had taken refuge in
Brussels, was there condemned by the ecclesiastical authorities. He
appealed to Rome, whither he journeyed, and he was received with favor
by Alexander VII., before whom he abjured Calvinism, which he had
professed.
He died at the age of 82, at Aubervilliers, near Paris, and Moreri
wrote the following epigrammatic epitaph for him:--
“La Peyrère ici gît, ce bon Israélite,
Huguenot, catholique, enfin pré-Adamite.
Quatre religions lui plurent à la fois;
Et son indifférence était si peu commune,
Qu’après quatre-vingts ans qu’il eut à faire un choix,
Le bon homme partit et n’en choisit aucune.”
The Oriental book Huschenk-Nameh gives a fuller history of the
Pre-Adamites. Before Adam was created, says this book, there were
in the isle Muscham, one of the Maldives, men with flat heads, and
for this reason they were called by the Persians, Nim-ser. They were
governed by a king named Dambac.
When Adam, expelled the earthly Paradise, established himself in the
Isle of Ceylon, the flat-heads submitted to him. After his death they
guarded his tomb by day, and the lions relieved guard by night, to
protect his body against the Divs.
III.
EVE.[37]
That man was created double, _i. e._ both male and female, is and has
been a common opinion. One Rabbinical interpretation of the text, “And
God created man in His own image, male-female created He them,” is
that Adam and Eve were formed back to back, united at the shoulders,
and were hewn asunder with a hatchet; but of this more presently.
The Rabbis say that when Eve had to be drawn out of the side of Adam
she was not extracted by the head, lest she should be vain; nor by
the eyes, lest they should be wanton; nor by the mouth, lest she
should be given to gossiping; nor by the ears, lest she should be an
eavesdropper; nor by the hands, lest she should be meddlesome; nor
by the feet, lest she should be a gadabout; nor by the heart, lest
she should be jealous; but she was drawn forth by the side: yet,
notwithstanding all these precautions, she has every fault specially
guarded against.[38]
They also say that, for the marriage-feast of Adam and Eve, God made a
table of precious stone, and each gem was a hundred ells long and sixty
ells wide, and the table was covered with costly dishes.[39]
The Mussulman tradition is, that Adam having eaten the bunch of grapes
given him as a reward for having preached to the angels, fell asleep;
and whilst he slept, God took from his left side a woman whom He called
Hava, because she was extracted from one living (Hai), and He laid her
beside Adam. She resembled him exactly, except that her features were
more delicate, her hair longer and divided into seven hundred locks,
her form more slender, her eyes softer, and her voice sweeter than
Adam’s. In the mean time Adam had been dreaming that a wife had been
given to him; and when he woke, great was his delight to find his dream
turned into a reality. He put forth his hand to take that of Hava,
but she withdrew hers, answering his words of love with, “God is my
master, and I cannot give my hand to thee without His permission; and,
moreover, it is not proper for a man to take a wife without making her
a wedding present.”
Adam thereupon sent the angel Gabriel to ask God’s permission to take
to him Hava as his wife. Gabriel returned with the answer that she
had been created to be his helpmate, and that he was to treat her
with gentleness and love. For a present he must pray twenty times for
Mohammed and for the prophets, who, in due season, were to be born of
him. Ridhwan, the porter of Paradise, then brought to Adam the winged
horse Meimun, and to Eve a light-footed she-camel. Gabriel helped them
to mount and led them into Paradise, where they were greeted by all the
angels and beasts with the words: “Hail, father and mother of Mohammed!”
In the midst of Paradise was a green silk tent spread for them,
supported on gold pillars, and in the tent was a throne upon which Adam
and Hava were seated. Then they were bathed in one of the rivers of
Paradise and brought before the presence of God, who bade them dwell
in Paradise. “I have prepared you this garden for your home; in it you
shall be protected from cold and heat, from hunger and thirst. Enjoy
all that meets your eye, only of one fruit taste not. Beware how you
break my command, and arm yourself against the subtlety of your foe,
Eblis; he envies you, and stands by you seeking to destroy you, for
through you was he cast out.”[40]
Tabari says that Adam was brought single into Paradise, through which
he roamed eating from the fruit trees, and a deep sleep fell upon him,
during which Eve was created from his left side. And when Adam opened
his eyes, he saw her, and asked her who she was, and she replied, “I am
thy wife; God created me out of thee and for thee, that thy heart might
find repose.” The angels said to Adam: “What thing is this? What is
her name? Why is she made?” Adam replied, “This is Eve.” Adam remained
five hundred years in Paradise. It was on a Friday that Adam entered
Eden.[41]
The inhabitants of Madagascar have a strange myth touching the origin
of woman. They say that the first man was created of the dust of the
earth, and was placed in a garden, where he was subject to none of
the ills which now affect mortality; he was also free from all bodily
appetites, and though surrounded by delicious fruit and limpid streams,
yet felt no desire to taste of the fruit or to quaff the water. The
Creator had, moreover, strictly forbidden him either to eat or to
drink. The great enemy, however, came to him, and painted to him in
glowing colors the sweetness of the apple, the lusciousness of the
date, and the succulence of the orange.
In vain: the first man remembered the command laid upon him by his
Maker. Then the fiend assumed the appearance of an effulgent spirit,
and pretended to be a messenger from Heaven commanding him to eat and
drink. The man at once obeyed. Shortly after, a pimple appeared on his
leg; the spot enlarged to a tumor, which increased in size and caused
him considerable annoyance. At the end of six months it burst, and
there emerged from the limb a beautiful girl.
The father of all living was sorely perplexed what to make of his
acquisition, when a messenger from heaven appeared, and told him to let
her run about the garden till she was of a marriageable age, and then
to take her to himself as his wife. He obeyed. He called her Bahouna,
and she became the mother of all races of men.
The notion of the first man having been of both sexes till the
separation, was very common. He was said to have been male on the right
side and female on the left, and that one half of him was removed to
constitute Eve, but that the complete man consists of both sexes.
Eugubinus among Christian commentators, the Rabbis Samuel, Manasseh
Ben-Israel, and Maimonides among the Jews, have given the weight of
their opinion to support this interpretation. The Rabbi Jeremiah
Ben-Eleazer, on the authority of the text “_Thou hast fashioned me
behind and before_” (Ps. cxxxix. 4), argued that Adam had two faces,
one male and the other female, and that he was of both sexes.[42]
The Rabbi Samuel Ben-Nahaman held that the first man was created
double, with a woman at his back, and that God cut them apart.[43]
“Adam,” said other Rabbis, “had two faces and one tail, and from the
beginning he was both male and female, male on one side, female on the
other; but afterwards the parts were separated.”[44]
The Talmudists assert that God cut off Adam’s tail and thereof formed
Eve.[45]
With this latter fable agrees the ludicrous myth of the Kikapoo
Indians, related in my “Curiosities of Olden Times.”
In Aristophanes’ speech in the Symposium of Plato, a myth is given,
that in the beginning there was a race of men of which every member was
double, having two heads, four legs and four arms, and each of both
sexes. This race, says he, was filled with pride, and it attempted
to scale heaven. The Gods desired at once to reduce their might and
punish their temerity, but did not wish to destroy the human race;
consequently at the advice of Zeus, each androgyne was hewn assunder,
so as to leave to each half two arms and a pair of legs, one head and a
single sex.
An Indian tradition is to this effect. Whilst Brahma the creator was
engaged in the production of beings, he saw Kaya (body) divide itself
into two parts, of which each part was of a different sex, and thence
sprang the whole human race.[46]
According to another much more explicit version, Viradi, the first man,
finding his solitude intolerable, fell into the deepest sorrow; and,
yearning for a companion, his nature developed into two sexes united
in one. Then he separated into two individuals, but found in that
separation unhappiness, for he was conscious of his imperfection; then
he reunited the existence of the two portions and was happy, and from
that reunion the world was peopled.[47]
In Persia, Meschia and Meschiane, the first man and the first woman,
were said to have formed originally but one body; but they were cut
apart, and from this voluntary reunion all men are sprung.[48]
The idea so prevalent that man without woman, or woman without man, is
an imperfect being, was the cause of the great repugnance with which
the Jews and other nations of the East regarded celibacy. The Rabbi
Eliezer, commenting on the text “He called their name Adam” (Gen. v.
2), laid down that he who has not a wife is not a man, for man is the
recomposition of male and female into one.[49]
Bramah, says an Indian legend, being charged with the production of
the human race, felt himself a prey to violent pains, till his sides
opened, and from one flank emerged a boy and from the other a girl. In
China, the story is told that the Goddess Amida sweated male children
out of her right arm-pit, and female children from her left arm-pit,
and these children peopled the earth.[50]
Vishnu, according to an Indian fable, gave birth to Dharma by his
right side, and to Adharma by his left side, and through Adharma death
entered the world.[51] Another story is to the effect, that the right
arm of Vena gave birth to Pritu, the master of the earth, and the left
arm to the Virgin Archis, who became the bride of Pritu.[52]
Pygmalion, says the classic story, which is really a Phœnician myth of
creation, made woman of marble or ivory, and Aphrodite, in answer to
his prayers, endowed the statue with life. “Often does Pygmalion apply
his hands to the work. One while he addresses it in soft terms, at
another he brings it presents that are agreeable to maidens, as shells
and smooth pebbles, and little birds, and flowers of a thousand hues,
and lilies, and painted balls, and tears of the Heliades, that have
distilled from the trees. He decks her limbs, too, with clothing, and
puts a long necklace on her neck. Smooth pendants hang from her ears,
and bows from her breast. All things are becoming to her.”[53]
But Hesiod gives a widely different account of the creation of woman.
According to him, she was sent in mockery by Zeus to be a scourge to
man:--
“The Sire who rules the earth and sways the pole
Had spoken; laughter filled his secret soul:
He bade the crippled god his hest obey,
And mould with tempering water plastic clay;
With human nerve and human voice invest
The limbs elastic, and the breathing breast;
Fair as the blooming goddesses above,
A virgin likeness with the looks of love.
He bade Minerva teach the skill that sheds
A thousand colors in the glittering threads;
He called the magic of love’s golden queen
To breathe around a witchery of mien,
And eager passion’s never-sated flame,
And cares of dress that prey upon the frame;
Bade Hermes last endue, with craft refined
Of treacherous manners, and a shameless mind.”[54]
That Eve was Adam’s second wife was a common Rabbinic speculation;
certain of the commentators on Genesis having adopted this view to
account for the double account of the creation of woman in the sacred
text,--first in Genesis i. 27, and secondly in Genesis ii. 18; and they
say that Adam’s first wife was named Lilith, but she was expelled from
Eden, and after her expulsion Eve was created.